Project Grant RF1AG085419

The University of Pennsylvania received a $2,278,636 Project Grant award from the National Institute on Aging (CFDA 93.866 - Aging Research) to characterize and evaluate different nursing home clinician care models and their impact on health outcomes and costs for nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). The key products and services to be delivered under this 3-year award include:

• Surveying a nationally representative sample of nursing home clinicians, primarily nurse practitioners and physicians, to collect data on their practice characteristics, care organization, processes, and degree of co-management between provider types.
• Linking this clinician data to Medicare claims and nursing home resident data to measure outcomes and costs of care for nursing home residents with ADRD.
• Evaluating whether nursing home residents with ADRD cared for by clinicians with a high degree of co-management (top quartile) have better outcomes and lower costs compared to those with low co-management (bottom quartile).

This research project aims to inform policy and practice interventions to improve the quality of care and reduce costs for nursing home residents with ADRD by supporting high-performing clinician care models. The University of Pennsylvania has sub-awarded portions of the grant to the University of California, San Francisco, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Widener University, and Florida State University to leverage their subject matter expertise in areas like nursing workforce, data analysis, and clinician practice patterns.